Hummus and Greek Yogurt Lettuce Wraps

It's the time of year when a quick healthy dinner is a critical part of daily life. We have soccer games or practice every night among a variety of other activities. We tend to get in a rut and make the same stuff over and over and I like to try and find some fresh new things to throw in the rotation.

Lemon Coconut and Strawberry "Shortcake" Cupcakes

 We've redesigned our entire backyard this year and have been hard at work rearranging, creating new garden boxes and re-purposing our old patio. Part of all the movement included digging up hundreds of our old strawberry plants and replanting them in their new home. We've got a whole dedicated area for them now and hope they go crazy and produce tons of new berries. We figured with all the movement they wouldn't produce anything this year but after getting them back in the ground, they perked right up and are now in full blossom and ready to fruit! Our Minnesota winter puts us behind most of the country though so it will still be a few weeks before we get to pick the fruit.

Finnish Easter Bread

For our kids, sleeping in is if they make it to 6:30 in the morning. None of our kids have ever slept in and I'm not sure they ever will until they become teenagers and we no longer need them too. We have taught them to get up quietly at least and so they aren't typically running around screaming. At least until 7:00.

I'm always looking for a good bread that can be made for those holiday mornings where you get up early and want to have something freshly made to enjoy for breakfast. Easter is coming up and if you've got kids, it's not likely you're going to be sleeping in any way, so wake up early and get this bread going.

Lemon Poppy Seed Waffles

When I was 12 years old, I spent a week or so one summer helping my Dad bring a friends yacht down through the waters of the Puget Sound to its home port near Seattle. I loved the time we spent on the water and even at that age, I was pretty comfortable in the kitchen. I spent much of the time in the ships galley preparing food and even managed to whip up some cinnamon rolls with some yeast I found in the back of one of the cupboards. The months after that trip were spent dreaming of ways that I could spend a life on the water and even today I think it would be great sometime to retire to a nice boat and just travel around the world.

Lemon Pudding Cakes with Raspberry Sauce

We're at it again. The Virtual Potluck team joined up with True Lemon this time and we've got a whole assortment of dishes using their products. Check out our host blog here to join the party.

I love to use fresh lemons and limes but I rarely have them stocked in the fridge and since I cook so randomly, meaning I rarely plan ahead, when I need a lemon or lime it's never there. That leaves me a few options, but most are artificial and don't provide the pure lemon flavor you're looking for in a lemon centered dish.

Housewarming Party

We just moved into our new home about a month ago and we hosted a housewarming party this last weekend. I was excited to make some new appetizers I had found and I knew that it was going to take quite a lot of time to get them all baked and put together. My plan was to work on them Friday afternoon and evening and then get it all finished up Saturday morning before the party. However, early Friday morning, a Tornado hit our neighborhood! There was no major damage to our house but it took out a few of our trees and I spent most of the day cleaning all of it up.

Addicting Lemon Cookies with Lemon Candy Chunks

I have to warn you, these cookies are addicting. I've made them three times in the last two weeks and there are still some more in the freezer. I had a friend tell me awhile back about a bakery in Utah that makes these lemon cookies with chunks of lemonhead candies in them. They sounded so good and they got me thinking about a lemon cookie recipe that I used to make that sounded pretty similar. She sent me a package of them for my birthday and they are pretty similar to my cookies. I'll have to send her some of mine to determine who's are better.